3 2 Dwelling-houses. 



Mr. Cox, of Mill Hill, N.W., on the Midland Kail- 

 way, describes one recently made. On an outside 

 wall of his drawing-room, in the centre of which are 

 the chimney and fire-place, he has built a conserva- 

 tory, with heating apparatus. For a large portion of 

 the wall, at each side of the fire-place, lie substituted 

 plate glass, and in this building he keeps orchids and 

 some congenial plants for a few weeks of their bloom ; 

 and he names about sixty of these giving a blaze of 

 beauty at the time he writes. At first he feared that 

 moisture condensing on the glass would obscure the 

 view from the sitting-room ; but he says that happily 

 this does not occur, and that the partition glass has 

 never been dimmed by damp. Plants are on brackets 

 at different heights, and Dendrobes are suspended 

 from the roof. P/iakenopsida require to be removed 

 to their ordinary abode after about two weeks' sojourn 

 in the new house. Odontoglossums and Oncidiinns 

 preserve their health for four weeks or longer, seem- 

 ingly benefited by the clime. 



Gardening in Yards, Areas, Railway Stations, 

 &c. Having seen some advances which room and 

 window-balcony culture have of late made, let us 

 glance at a few improvements which seem easily at- 

 tainable in such places as town yards, areas, and gar- 

 dens, and other small patches of ground belonging to 

 city, town, and suburban dwellings. Finding such 

 ferns as Trichomanes, Todea, and Hymenophilhm, &c., 

 thrive even in garrets in dark parts of a city, may we 

 not expect that many kinds of fern and other pretty 



